Office of The Principal

David Sylvester is the 8th Principal of King’s University College. Appointed in July 2009, Dr. Sylvester also holds an appointment as associate professor in the department of History at King’s. He came to King’s after a decade of service as President of Corpus Christi College, and as Principal of St. Mark’s College at the University of British Columbia.

A social-economic historian, Dr. Sylvester’s area of research focuses on the nature of community in the middle ages, with a particular interest in medieval port towns, shipping, trade and piracy. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Medieval History from Fordham University, the Jesuit University of New York City. He continues to publish on the medieval confederacy of English port towns known as the Cinque Ports. Dr. Sylvester has taught in the departments of history at the University of British Columbia, Corpus Christi College, Fordham University, and Trinity Western University.

In 2000, Dr. Sylvester was appointed the founding President of Corpus Christi College, the Catholic liberal arts college at the University of British Columbia. In 2005, he was also appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor of St. Mark’s College, the Catholic theological college affiliated with U.B.C. While in British Columbia, Dr. Sylvester served on the provincial Degree Quality Assessment Board, the B.C. Council on Admissions and Transfer, as a director of Catholic Family Services and on the board of Vancouver College, a K-12 school founded by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. He is the immediate past chair of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities of Canada (ACCUC).

In 2012, Dr. Sylvester was elected the Canadian representative to the Board of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities based in Washington, D.C.